I LIVE!
This chapter is short. Probably the shortest I've ever written. Welcome back.
Trying to resurrect,
Kelsey
CHAPTER 46 : THE QUIET VOICE OF TRUTH
Gray haze. White light. It burned. She shut her eyes tight. Wherever she was, it felt foreign, smelled sterile. It wasn't familiar in the slightest.
A low, repetitive beep continued to sound as hushed voices mumbled from across the room. They seemed to echo, and then they fell to a lower volume, hitting the floor.
She opened her eyes again, determined to figure out where she was. Under her fingers she felt stiff cotton sheets. Her nails pierced it slightly, and it sprang back: a bed. Yes, she was lying down. Her vision was watery, but it began to focus. A tall pole stood next to the bed. A tube connected to a clear bag of liquid hung from the pole and ran out of sight. An IV.
This was a room in a hospital.
She could barely make out human forms on the far side of the room. A tall man in white, a woman with dark hair. They muttered in harsh tones, then in inaudible whispers.
And then the pain came. Searing, raw pain. Knees to thighs, chest to shoulders. It creeped from her head into her eyes, and everything seemed to want to explode. Any minute now, she expected her soul to burst, but not before—
Laura screamed. She shot up from a dead sleep and screamed with one bellowed note. The outburst echoed around the room and came back to her like an angry boomerang, but nothing else came of it. No result.
No one responded. Nothing moved.
The room was dark, save for the light from the window. Moonlight swam in through a feeble curtain. It was enough for her to realize her surroundings, even minimally.
Just as it was in her fitful slumber, she was truly in a hospital, and the contraptions connected to her body confirmed it. The numbed sting of an IV needle in the back of her hand; the breathing mask over her nose and mouth; the mute yet actively glowing and blinking buttons on the machine next to the bed…what was all of this stuff?
Slowly, the door creaked open, and a person stood in the entrance. The light from the hall was too painful to look at, much less willing to allow Laura to see who was bothering her space. It outlined the person's frame briefly before the door shut, and the room was blanketed in midnight again.
Light headed, the girl slumped back against the mountain of pillows as the person approached. Whoever it was would have to wait; suddenly Laura's eyes swam in a fit of pain and nausea.
"Wh…who is…," she attempted to mumble.
"Shh, you're too loud," the calm voice admonished gently. It was familiar, the tone, yet still so faraway…
Laura blinked slowly, breathing from the mask with deep, labored breaths. The man (she assumed, as the voice was masculine) pulled up a chair and sat next to the bed.
"So you finally woke up," he spoke softly.
"How…how long…"
"You've been out for almost nine days." He paused. "You weren't supposed to live."
Suddenly she knew the voice. "H…Hershel…"
Professor Layton chuckled. "Took you long enough. I suppose even the smartest brains can be taken down just like the rest of us."
Laura wasn't even listening. Her mind was folding in and out, eager to function, but too willing to fall into sleep.
"Mmgh," was all she said.
'So you lived…and I'm living too…' she thought to herself, tumbling into a swirl of unconscious twilight. 'The world is all right…
'…The world is all right…'
Then she passed out.
END.
Next chapter is long. And it's the 2nd to last one. YEY. Don't forget to review. I'm tired of a bunch of readers and no reviews.